Merry Christmas!!!

8 Months Old

I apologize for the late post about Lincoln being eight months old. I am fully aware that he is close to being nine months old in two weeks but I did want to post pictures. Link currently has five teeth! It turns out that I gave birth to a vampire baby. Instead of getting the top two teeth like most babies do, my son decided that he was going to have the other two teeth on either side of the top teeth was a much better thing to have. I have no clue if it is nothing more than weird that these are the teeth that decided to pop through but he doesn't seem to mind. Still not interested in crawling yet but you can tell the kid wants to move but just can't figure how to put the pieces together yet. We are really looking forward to Christmas soon. Link is a fan of the lights on the Christmas tree. The lights have even prevented a further meltdown on occasion. He is currently in love with his two brothers as Baxter and Newman grow more tolerable of him. Link constantly looks for the dogs whenever he hears them in a room. Enjoy some recent photos taken!

Thanksgiving weekend

We traveled down to Atlanta for Thanksgiving to be with Brad's family. Lincoln traveled very well and we had a nice time visiting with everyone. The trip included a trip downtown, a visit to Piedmont Park, and opening our first round of Christmas gifts. We topped the holiday off with watching State come back and beat Maryland! That game was crazy. It went from sucking so bad that we debated leaving during the 3rd quarter to absolute insanity! Link was the only smart one who slept through the first half and didn't have to watch the bad football that was on display. Here are pictures from Thanksgiving.

Bow Tie Affair

Gotta love the tuxedo t-shirt onesie...its says "I'm classy but here to party!"

Football and Race Weekend

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of witnessing NC State beat UNC for the 5th consecutive year in a row. It was a great game and a lot of fun to watch. Link stayed at home with my mom since he was dealing with his ear infection but we and my Mom were with us in spirit. The following day, Brad, Rachel, and I ran in the Raleigh Oaks 10K. It was mine and Brad's first 10K and it went pretty well. The race started out at the bell tower, went downtown around the capitol, and finished up at Cameron Village. I was cool with my time but I am pretty sure I could have done a little better. I felt pretty good all throughout the race and even ran into some co-workers during the race. We still have some time before our half marathon in January so the long runs are just going to longer. Here are some pictures from the weekend!

Just soak it in...5 times in a row!!

Someone lowered the UNC flag to half staff after their defeat...awesome!

This is us before the race. It was forty degrees at the start of the race. It was cold but was really nice once we started running. Disney half-marathon....here we come. Don't care how I have to do it, we are gonna cross that finish line!

State Fair

We took Link to the State Fair a few weekends ago. Fortunately, we did not have any E. Coli brought back to our house. Being people that don't ride the rides at the fair (no trust in something that was just on a train a week before), we walked around checking out the exhibits and ate a bunch of food. We are big fans of the deep fried oreos and even tried some new food this year. This was Link's second trip to the fair that week. My parents took him earlier and he loved the pigs. He thought their snorting was hilarious. Here are a few pictures from our time at the fair.




Link attempting to eat my Krispie Kreme burger. It was interesting to eat....it wasn't bad but I'm not sure if I will get it again.


Link checking out the goats. His eyes are so funny in this picture. Not sure he was expecting the goat to get that close!

Seven Months Old

Link just turned seven months old and it has been really exciting. His third tooth showed up, stood up with no one holding onto him, and got sick for the first time. He currently has an ear infection in his right ear and that has made for a few fun filled sleepless nights! Although we didn't take him out on Halloween, we did get him a costume. I couldn't help myself once I saw it. He weighed in at 15 and a half pounds at the doctor this week where we found out his cough was actually an ear infection. His hair is definetly getting people's attention. I swear we do nothing to it...this is a natural thing going on. Here are some pictures of him recently.


Attack of the garden veggie baby food goatee!

We are in trouble now......

Look who doesn't have anyone holding him up!?!

A Big Week in the Life of Link

Last week was a pretty awesome week for Link. Not only did his first tooth pop through, he also started sitting up! He can't stay sitting up for long but its a start. I am actually surprised he kept still long enough to sit up because he is always trying to move. Here are a few other photos of Link from this past week.





In case you are wondering, we do not put anything in his hair. It naturally keeps sticking up like that...but we love it!

Link - 6 months

Link just turned six months recently! At his sixth month appointment, he weighed in at 14lbs 8 ozs (9th percentile) and had grown three inches putting him in the 52nd percentile for height! He is eating baby food now (rice cereal, sweet potatoes, peas, and bananas) and seems to like it. I recently bought on of those baby magic bullet things to make his own baby food. So far, I haven't screwed it up but I don't know how you can screw much up when you puree stuff. I have made sweet potatoes and bananas. Link is so active, never staying still for a moment. He is really such a good baby. He is always smiling with his white hair sticking straight up. Link went to his first hockey game and a few State games this past month. We bought a pair of the baby headphones to help with the noise at the games and he does great with them. He never pulls or tugs at them at all. He is close to being able to sit up but the kid will never stay still long enough to practice sitting up! He is still a squealer and loves to "talk" now. Here are a few pictures from this past month.



Link showing off his game day headphones.



We can't keep socks on this boy. Anytime, he is on his back, he is instantly reaching for his feet.

Recent pictures of Link

The hat that Meme made for him. He had this on in the hospital but it was way too big for his head. It finally fits!



We think he is starting to look more like Brad now but we both think the boy still looks like me when he has a hat on!

Last Cabin Trip of the Year

We were able to make it up to the cabin this past weekend. Since we will be in Atlanta with Brad's family for Thanksgiving, this was our last chance to get a cabin trip in before the end of the year. Although it was a short trip and the weather was less than awesome, it was a good trip. We were able to do a little bit of hiking in a new place and relax. Here are a few pictures from the trip.



Our hike at Doughton Park off of the Parkway. We all thought that there was an awesome view if those clouds just would go away.





Pictures from our quick stop at Mt. Jefferson. Yeah, I know we do the jumping thing a lot but seriously, how can you not have fun doing that.



Link has definitely started noticing the dogs more and more now. Newman is especially patient with Link. Here are a few pictures of one night at the cabin. One of the pictures is blurry and bad of Link but the look on Newman's face is worth it.

NC State vs Wake

The Sears family got together once again this past Saturday for our annual State vs. Wake tailgate. The trend continues with Wake winning at home every time we play them there but as my Aunt Lisa always says, "We've never lost a tailgate!" We had a great time with everyone there. Here are a few pictures from the day.



Once again, another awesome onesie made by Deria!



Link attempting to eat my hair....



Our best family photo we have taken thus far!



Link didn't make it through the whole tailgate but we never had to worry if he would be held the whole time. Here he is passed out with Meme.

Sweet Potatoes

We let Link try some sweet potatoes this past week. Judging by the pictures, we are thinking the jury is still out on this one......

Link's first football game

State started out their 2011 season this past Saturday and more importantly marked Link's first football game. Overall he did well. We tailgated before the game and then ended up staying till the end of the 3rd quarter. The ear plugs we got him didn't work as well as we had hoped so there are some noise cancelling headphones that are being ordered as I type and will hopefully be here before the next game. Link wasn't a fan of sudden noises during the game. For example, the fireworks when the team ran out or different cheers from our section didn't go over so well for him but the boy was attempting to fall asleep. There seemed to be a lot of babies at the game. Maybe I just noticed because I also had a kid with me. One woman even had her five week old with her!!


Brad's family was in town the weekend and got to go the game with us.


Although State didn't look their best on Saturday, they did manage to win. Link looked so cute in his red and white striped State outfit and bucket hat! Our family's annual State vs. Wake tailgate is next weekend at Winston Salem and we are all pretty excited. At least we know the food will be awesome if the football isn't!

Five Months Old

Link turned five months old yesterday! We are very pleased to say that Link has finally mastered the art of sleeping through the night. It couldn't have come at a better time. He started sleeping through the night the same week that I went back to work. He is such a good baby. He isn't down with the whole napping thing some days but has such a sweet personality. He is smiling, laughing, and "talking" all the time now. He tolerates tummy time, can sit in his Bumbo decently, and loves being outside. He can be screaming one minute and content the next if you just take him outside. My mom watches Link three days a week and he stays with one of our friends the other two. I miss terrible at school but it is a great relief not having to be worried about him during the day.





We are headed to our first football game this weekend. We have season tickets for NC State football this year and are very excited to take Link with us. In case you are wondering, he already has his outfit picked out! Most people think we are crazy to take a baby to the games but the plan is to prove them wrong.